Tuesday, November 16, 2010

A.T. Stewart, John Wanamaker, the Great Fire, and the Great Flood (Part II)

In 1954, Wanamaker's announced it would close its store complex on the blocks between 4th Avenue and Broadway, 8th and 10th Streets, citing a new focus on suburban stores. The older store, the 1862 A.T. Stewart "Iron Palace" was already being used as offices, having been leased to the U.S. Goverment some years earlier. In December 1954, the store closed its doors.

An amazing newsreel from British Pathé. Click the image to view the video, or go here to launch the video on its own page.

The Times reported the blaze took 25 hours to control with 187 firefighters hurt. The Broadway BMT subway (today's N/R) and the Lexington IRT (today's 4/5/6) were closed, as were the surrounding streets, including Broadway and 4th Avenue. Thousands of site-seers surrounded the site to catch a glimpse of the calamity:

There was plenty to see...The area within Twelfth Street on the north, Eighth Street and Astor Place on the south, University Place on the west and Third Avenue on the east resembled a hastily constructed battle scene...From the gray stone pile of the Wanamaker building, which resembled a gaping, bombed-out shell, billowed acrid smoke, intermittently shot through with licks of flame. New York Times, July 16, 1956

Crowds gather to watch the fire in two shots by photographer Robert Frank.

I haven't been able to pinpoint this second photo, although I have some ideas. Guesses?

With an estimated 50,000,000 gallons of water used on the fire, the Astor Place station was completely flooded. The track foundation for the IRT line was washed away, and the Transit Authority feared that 4th Avenue might itself collapse. The BMT and IRT lines were completely shut down for two days and normal service was not restored for five days. A week later, 4th Avenue remained closed from 8th Street to 11th Street as repairs continued.

9 comments:

an interesting point i read about the closing of Wanamaker's--that when Wanamaker's was gone, its absence contributed to the death of nearby Book Row. apparently, husbands would shop for books while their wives shopped at Wanamaker's. those husbands stopped coming after Wanamaker's was gone.

Fascinating story. Great coverage of an often overlooked area. My father was born in the neighborhood and remembers watching the original building burn. The damage to the IRT station was extraordinary as well.

My uncle Edward O'Connell was a firefighter at the Wanamakers Fire. He suffered a heart attack & died after fighting the fire. Since I was 4 years old when he died, I never knew him & knew nothing him except "he died fighting the Wanamakers fire." Thanks for filling in a lot of blanks about that event.

About This Blog

Peeking at physical changes in the East Village (with some occasional history), I apply all my geek powers and talent for time-wasting to researching the history of locations and buildings and other places in my neighborhood that I find interesting.

I hope to add new posts about once a week, and I welcome ideas for topics!